The A-7 Corsair II
It was in September 1965 that the A-7A made its maiden flight, and precisely one year later the initial operational squadrons began receiving the aircraft to train pilots for frontline service. What made the timing significant was that naval aviation was deeply involved in the Vietnam air war when Attack Squadron (VA) 147, the first tactical squadron equipped with the Corsair II, conducted its inaugural cruise under combat conditions, launching their initial missions over North Vietnam in December 1967. The A-7B, already in production by then, took its first flight in February 1968. The Navy would ultimately operate seven production versions of the aircraft, including the two-seat TA-7C and the EA-7L for electronic countermeasures work, while the US Air Force flew the A-7D variant operationally.
It was the A-7E that emerged as the final version of the Corsair II, making its first flight in November 1968 and featuring a 14,250 lb. static thrust Allison TF41-A-2 engine, enhanced avionics and hydraulic systems, and a multi-barrel M61 cannon. Throughout the production run of 535 A-7E aircraft, features such as Target-Recognition Attack Multi-Sensors (TRAM) and Forward Looking Infra-Red (FLIR) were integrated to enhance the airplane’s attack capabilities.
SLUF
‘With the Vietnam escalating, the USN found that their current inventory of attack aircraft (A-1 Skyraider, A-4 Skyhawk) lacked the range and payload necessary for that war. They released an RFP which indicated the new aircraft had to be based on an existing airframe in order to reduce cost and risk. Vought won with a design derived from the beloved F-8 Crusader. The first flight of the A-7 Corsair II [dubbed SLUF, Short Little Ugly F****r, by its aircrews] was in 1965. The A-7A was rushed into service. The A-7B with upgraded engine followed,’ says David Tussey, former US Navy A-7 Corsair II pilot, on Quora.
‘Following the Navy’s procurement, the USAF was arm-twisted to buy the A-7 also (ostensibly to provide CAS for the Army in Vietnam). The USAF insisted on significant upgrades to the engine, avionics, armament, radar, and instrumentation. This upgraded configuration was the baseline for all further A-7 procurements, especially the USN A-7E (which I flew).
‘And while the A-7A and A-7B variants were successful, it was those upgrades initiated by the USAF configuration that led to the superb performance of the A-7, both the “D” and “E” variants for USAF and USN. The Navy benefited enormously from the USAF upgrades.
A devoted pilot community
‘So, what did the A-7D/E have that gave it such a great combat record and a devoted pilot community, aka the “A-7 mafia”?’
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- Great range and endurance are provided by the TF-41 turbofan. Missions of 3+ hours were possible.
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- Great payload and mission flexibility. Six external store stations + sidewinders + M61 Vulcan cannon. Great flexibility in load-outs for various mission types, from mining to anti-ship to armed interdiction to traditional CAS.
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- State-of-the-art avionics. Equipped with a digital computer (allowing for continuous upgrades), inertial navigation, HUD, moving-map display (Google Maps before there was Google Maps), excellent radar, self-defense EW + active jamming, digital air data computer, etc.
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- Computer-controlled weapons delivery: This was probably the biggest impact—the ability to have weapons delivery controlled by a computer connected to the air data computer and inertial system—this was a true game changer and improved bomb delivery by a factor of 2X-3X in accuracy.
The A-7 Corsair II, a great attack aircraft
Moreover, as Tussey points out,
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- Ease of maintenance and reliability: The A-7 enjoyed excellent “up time” and was relatively easy to maintain and service. Doing an engine replacement onboard a carrier was much easier than for the A-4 it replaced. Similarly, many of the issues that had plagued both the A-4 and F-8 (hydraulic leaks) were resolved. For the USN, this led to the A-7E being a real workhorse for the carrier airwing, able to generate high sortie rates.
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- The ability to automatically extend the leading-edge flaps (Auto Maneuvering Flaps-AMF) at high AoA maneuvers was added in the mid-80s to the A-7E. It was a great help and probably saved several lives by preventing inadvertent stalls.
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- Upgrades: Over the life of the A-7, the digital bus and computer control enable numerous upgrades to weapons carriage (Maverick, HARM, APAM, laser-guided bombs, etc.) as well as some performance changes such as automatic maneuvering flaps. Avionics upgrades also followed with upgraded radar to the improved digital scan version, upgraded Havequick dual radios, improved flight management systems, and improved ejection seats. This kept the A-7 viable even into the Desert Storm conflict in the early 90s when the last USN A-7 squadron was deployed, after a 25-year heritage.
Photo by U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy
